Something interesting about the idea of steelmanning as a means of making one’s arguments stronger.

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The steel man argument (or steelmanning) is the exact opposite of the straw man argument. The idea is to help one’s opponent to construct the strongest form of their argument. This may involve removing flawed assumptions which could be easily refuted, for example, so that one produces the best argument for the “core” of one’s opponent’s position. ¹

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1. Wikipedia which I came across idea via

   ‘Nobody is ever convinced by someone else’s argument, except in very rare cases. The thing about human psychology is that when you put for out arguments, you commit yourself to that argument in a way that precludes you saying “I see, you’re right”’ – Lord Sumption #Steelmanning

   — Nico Macdonald (@Nico_Macdonald) January 14, 2021

   mentioned in Roam Book Club 5, session 1↩︎

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